CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Breezy Johnson of the United States won the gold medal in the women's alpine skiing downhill at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday after her compatriot Lindsey Vonn suffered a serious crash.
Johnson clocked 1 minute 36.10 seconds in an early run to claim her first Olympic medal, ahead of Emma Aicher of Germany by 0.04 seconds. Italy's Sofia Goggia bagged bronze.
"I had a good feeling about today. I sort of still can't believe it yet. I knew I had to push. I knew I had to go harder than I did in training. I had to be super clean, and I felt like I did that," said Johnson.
Vonn, competing with an injured left knee, crashed early on Sunday. After receiving medical attention on the snow for several long and painful minutes, the 41-year-old legend was taken off the piste by helicopter.
"I hope it's not as bad as it looked," Johnson said. "I know how difficult it is to ski this course, and sometimes, because you love this course so much, when you crash on it and it hurts you like that, it hurts that much worse. So, my heart just goes out to her." ■
